Plan to fix 'horrible' King Street gets mixed reviews from community

Carlo Trevisan's whole life revolves around King Street.

For nearly a decade, he's lived around King Street West and Bathurst Streetwith his wife and kids, his brother has a retail showroom at King and Berkeley Streets, andTrevisan has an office at King Street Eastand Parliament Street.

And to get back and forth between them, he avoids his own street entirely saying it would be 55-minute streetcar rideand, instead, hops on the highway.

• King Street pilot project concept makes transit riders top priority

"I'm excited someone recognized just how horrible King Street is," he told CBC Toronto at theThursday night community meeting unveiling the King Street pilot project, which was met with a mix of praise and concern from attendees.

Slotted for the stretch of King Street betweenBathurstStreet andJarvisStreet, the project could start transforming the thoroughfare this fall into a street designed for transit riders not drivers with local traffic onlyand a separate corridor for streetcars.

"It's really about speeding up our streetcars on King, making them more reliable, and also hopefully improving capacity," said ChrisUpfold, deputy chief executiveofficer with the TTC.

It's not set in stone just yet, though. Thepilot project is heading to the TTC board on June 15, followed by Mayor John Tory'sexecutive committee on June 19 and all ofcouncil in early July.

Coun. Joe Cressy, who represents Ward 20, is optimistic council will pass it.

"As the local councilor, one of the things I believe is you need to get it in quickly," he said. "You can debate endlessly the details, but at the end of the day, you need to get it started."

'They're trying to push this through too fast'

That sentiment doesn'tsit well with Tom Dunn, who has an office on King Street West and owns property on King Street East.

"I think they're trying to push this through too fast and I think the businesses are being left hung out to dry," he said.

With so many businesses, hotels, and restaurants on the thoroughfare, Dunnworries the project could inhibit trafficto the area.

• 'Transitfirst' King Street redesign to be made public
• A King Street with no cars? City may consider a car-free corridor pilot project

City planners disagree. Their data shows less than three per cent of parking spots within a five minute walk of King Street would be lost to make room for the pilot project, and around 50 per cent of the existing traffic on King Street would simply switch to a nearby alternate route.

Still, Dunn wasn't the only one raising red flags at Thursday's meeting.

Some attendees expressed concern over the proposal, which would allow local traffic access only, forcing drivers to make right-turn "loops" within the pilot stretch of King Street to use parallel routes such as Queen, Richmond, Adelaide, Wellingtonand Front streets.

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, director ofTransportation Infrastructure Management for the city, acknowledges the changes might be confusing at first, but said thecity has already met with police aboutenforcement, which will include both education andticket blitzes.

She also anticipates many drivers will change their travel plans well before the pilot area, and might opt for transit instead.

Other attendeesquestioned why the clogged street doesn't just go car-freeor why streetcars aren't replaced with buses.

Car-free won't work because of loading and delivery needs, and the need to serve taxis and Wheel-Trans vehicles, HaywardGulati told the large crowd at theInterContinental Toronto Centre's ballroom.

And buses? They're "inefficient and costly."

But there's a cost to the pilot project too, of course: Ahigh-level budget estimate of $1.5 million,HaywardGulati said, though that figure depends on what happens in the design phase.

The community has a chance toshare inputon the current plan until June 10.